


The Girl from a Lonely Planet

by mrichar7



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-30
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2018-10-25 16:55:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 12,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10768494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mrichar7/pseuds/mrichar7
Summary: The Resistance is in bad shape. First Order fighters pursue them across the galaxy and defeat them at almost every turn. Desperate for hope, Rey leaves the safety of her training with Luke Skywalker to look for answers to help her friends. Her quest for hope is met with her desire to finally discover the truth about her history.In the Outer Rim of the galaxy, another girl waits for answers as well. She looks for the answers to her future, and hopes to forget her past. The answers both women are looking for may just lie with each other.





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 

She heard the ship enter Dagobah’s atmosphere. It was a noise she hadn’t heard in countless years, and one she hadn’t expected to hear for at least a million more. She raced into the only nearby clearing where the sky wasn’t obstructed by the swampy trees that inhabited the empty planet. She knew almost every inch of the zone she dubbed her “home”, but the distraction from the ship proved to be enough of a distraction that she tripped over a raised tree root and ended up sprawled in the mud. 

 

Looking up quickly she caught the tail end of a circular ship rounding the edge of the clearing before it disappeared out of sight. She was confused for a second before she realized that the ship and its occupants must have noticed the only clearing in miles, and she jumped up off the ground in alarm because that meant the ship was heading straight for her.

 

She ran back to the tree cover and hid in the underbrush. Breathing fast, she looked down and noticed what she was wearing for the first time in as long as she could remember. 

 

She’d outgrown the clothes she arrived in years ago. She remembered ripping the overly tight tunic from her body and questioning whether clothing was necessary, she rarely saw any animals let alone a being who looked and thought like her. 

 

After going the no clothes route for a short time, she decided, alone or not, she preferred being somewhat covered and used her already ripped tunic to cover just her chest and lower body.

 

The ship was approaching, she could hear its engines winding down as it approached the surface of the planet. 

 

She coughed, tried to clear her throat. She wondered when the last time she had said something out loud was. Did her voice even work anymore? She contemplated testing out a sentence, but changed her mind as she heard the ship land directly behind her. 

 

Her brain seemed to shut off. Pressing her back against a tree trunk, she slid to the ground, drawing her knees towards her chest as the panic began to set in. It was then that she remembered her weapon.

 

It was within reach, she hoped.

 

Inhaling, she bolted the short distance to where she’d left it after practicing that morning. Skidding to a stop and dropping to the ground she reached around in the wet dirt and, locating the hilt, charged back to where she had been hiding a moment earlier.

 

Hitting the tree hard she steadied herself for less than a second before she heard the hiss of the door to the strange ship begin to drop toward the ground. 

 

Three seconds, she told herself in her head. She’d take three breaths before looking at her first ever visitor. She could barely hear the stranger’s steps, but they were there. Another being had entered the clearing.

 

Exhaling her third breath slowly and silently, she looked around the base of the tree.

 

A girl.

Shocked, having expected someone alien, she took in the intruder. 

 

It was a girl around her age, couldn’t be more than a couple years older. The girl certainly looked like a Jedi, with long pieces of fabric draping her body and covering her arms. She had a long staff slung over her shoulder, and carried the hilt of a lightsaber in her right hand.

 

The girl took in her surrounds for a moment before walking in the opposite direction of her hiding spot. She wondered where the girl was going, and why she had come here in the first place.

 

She contemplated entering the ship the girl had left unguarded, but she couldn’t be sure that there weren’t more crew members waiting inside. Though she didn’t want to admit it, she knew she wouldn’t have any idea how to fly the dang thing anyway.

 

So, she followed the Jedi girl, whose footsteps she could still hear. 

 

The girl’s hair was done up in three knots, and it was dark brown, almost black. She tried to run her fingers though her own hair, but it was too ratted to get more than halfway down the length of it. She looked at the hair in her hand, the color was much lighter than that of the Jedi girl she was following, much longer too. 

 

She felt a strange pang in her stomach. Jealousy, she realized with a start. 

 

The Jedi girl was standing outside of the house of the oldest Jedi master she knew to have existed, Master Yoda. She remembered hearing stories about him before she had arrived on Dagobah. Was that what the Jedi girl was here for, Master Yoda?

 

If that were so, the girl was out of luck. She had searched his home before, more than a few times. There was nothing of importance, not even anything interesting. 

 

She felt odd watching the Jedi girl study Master Yoda’s home. There was something familiar about her. But she needed to see her face, to look in her eyes.

 

She decided to do something drastic, even if she didn’t know where it was going to take her. Without really knowing her answer, she took a step into the open and said,

 

“I know who you are.”

 

Her voice sounded odd coming out of her mouth, the voice inside of her head sounded much younger.

 

The Jedi girl turned toward her quickly, she raised her lightsaber. Blue light shot out of the end of it as the girl’s face was illuminated in the cool light.

 

She wasn’t sure whether the eye contact or the saber brought the memory back, but in that moment, she realized. She knew who this girl was.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

Rey was more than shocked. She wasn’t expecting to find anyone on this abandoned planet, never mind this strange girl.

 

Rey wanted to look away from the girl, but she found she couldn’t draw her eyes away. The girl was wearing next to nothing, and she was very thin. She looked as though she had even less food to eat then the scavengers foraging on Jakku. Her hair was long and dirty, as was the rest of her body. Rey could understand why, she couldn’t imagine any kind of clean water on this planet.

 

The girl spoke again, “You’re Rey.”

 

Now Rey was taken aback, “How do you know my name?”

 

“We lived near each other. When we were little.” The girl’s voice was raspy and uneven, she sounded as though she didn’t quite know how to speak.

 

“On Jakku?” Rey asked as she deactivated the lightsaber she was holding. The girl looked confused.

 

“Jakku? Is that a planet?” The girl asked. 

 

Rey was puzzled, if the girl didn’t know her from Jakku, was it possible she knew her in her previous life? Would she know her parents as well?

 

“Why are you here?” Rey asked the girl. She noticed at that moment that the girl wasn’t unarmed, she had what looked like the hilt of an older lightsaber half hidden behind her thin frame.

 

“I’m here because I’m no one, I’ve no use for anyone.” She responded half-heartedly. Rey could tell there was a lot of pain in that subject. It was a subject she was very familiar with, and she couldn’t help but be hit with a wave of sadness.

 

“You must’ve been lonely, all these years on an uninhabited planet. Unless you’re not alone?” Rey wanted to ask the most pressing question on her mind, but she felt that she needed to understand this lonely girl before she could ask it.

 

“No, it’s just me.” She responded. Rey paused for a moment before asking her next question.

 

“Did your family bring you here?”

 

The girl’s face clouded over in anger, “No, they enlisted some unfortunate drones to do their dirty work for them. Most likely because their ship exploded before it even reached the atmosphere. No witnesses for my exclusion, I suppose.”

 

“I’m sorry. My family, well, they didn’t leave me in very great circumstances either I suppose.” Rey mumbled.

 

“Your family?” The girl looked shocked, “Your family is one of the greatest of all time. I suppose you don’t remember them do you. They’ve always been known for their mind tricks.”

 

Rey’s heart picked up speed instantly, “You know who my parents are?” She asked.

 

“Were. I knew who they were. They died a long time ago.” Maybe the girl could see the sadness on Rey’s face, because her next words were said in a slightly more comforting manner.

 

“It’s hard to believe I’m standing in the presence of the last Kenobi.”

 

“Kenobi? What does that mean.” Rey asked her. She didn’t want to feel this crushing sadness over hearing about the death of her family. A family she had no memory of, no feelings for other than the many years spent waiting for their return. Rey thought she had accepted that she’d moved on from them once she found Finn and Leia all those years ago. Had it been three or four, maybe five? Rey couldn’t be certain, but she was acutely aware now that she had not moved on.

 

“That’s your name. Rey Kenobi.” Was all the girl told her.

 

“And what about you!” Rey spit back at her, she was feeling angry now.

 

“I don’t talk about me.” The girl was sullen, looking down at her bare feet.

 

“How do you know who I am!” Rey’s voice should have echoed around them at the volume she was reaching, but the damp air and tree cover kept the full force of it in the small clearing.

 

The girl took a step back, perhaps she was being cautious. Or maybe she was reluctant to say anything at this point.

 

“We trained together, when we were little. You were in a group that was older than me, but our families, they were friends. We were friends too I suppose, until you left one day. I was too young to know why at the time. But your parents were going off to go fight something, against everyone’s wishes of course. They wanted you to be safe in case something went wrong while they were gone. Everyone thought they were stupid for taking you away, of course everyone who stayed ended up dead anyway.”

 

“Are you talking about Luke Skywalker’s training academy?” Rey asked her. Was it possible she had been training to be a Jedi all along?

 

“Of course I am. Before the Knights of Ren came along on their murdering spree. I saw all my friends die that night you know. I couldn’t do anything to stop it, they would have killed me too I suppose.” The girl gave a halfhearted laugh, “A couple years later and I ended up on this godforsaken planet.”

 

“Well, do you want to get off this godforsaken planet? I’ll understand if you want to wait for someone,” Rey started to say, but before she could finish her thought the girl was heading for the open door of the Falcon. She didn’t even turn around for a last glance, Rey supposed she had nothing to leave behind.

 

Rey turned to look back at Master Yoda’s previous dwellings and sighed in exasperation. She had come looking for answers, to what question she wasn’t sure. But one thing she did know was that she had left a losing battle at home, and she surely hoped that there was something for her to return to when she brought back a mysterious girl instead of any concrete answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading!


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

She decided she didn’t like flying, it was turning her stomach upside down inside of her body. The Jedi girl Rey was in the cockpit, piloting the ship by herself. She couldn’t help but be impressed, even though she felt like she was going to vomit.

 

The interior of the ship matched the exterior, very beat up and old-looking. She sat in front of a table with some kind of game board on it, but she couldn’t bring herself to turn it on.

 

Rey had mentioned Luke Skywalker, so she could only assume that they were flying right to him. The thought itself was enough to make her sick, and she seriously looked around the ship for a trash can of some kind.

 

Instead she saw Rey approaching her, looking apprehensive. She could understand why, she’d feel the same way if her lineage was just explained to her. She thought that Rey was going to ask her more questions about the awful history of the Jedi academy, but she was entirely surprised.

 

“Would you like some more clothes to wear? I don’t have much, and it might be too large on you, but where we’re going your getup might be a little distracting.” Rey said.

 

Distracting? Her body? She hadn’t thought of anything like that in so long that it hadn’t once crossed her mind until Rey brought it up. Come to think of it, she was a little more well-endowed up top now then she had been when she arrived on Dagobah as a child.

 

“Yes.” She responded in almost a whisper. Her voice seemed to be tired from all the talking after having not been put to use for years.

 

Rey walked to the side of the ship and opened the bottom drawer of some kind of storage space. She only rummaged through it for a moment before finding what she was looking for. It was a sandy color tunic and pants, nothing too special. On a second thought, Rey reached down and grabbed an additional item. It was a grey vest, it looked a little more posh than the other articles of clothing.

 

Rey brought the clothes over to her and dropped them on the table, “There’s a refresher in the back, if you want to wash up as well.” She mumbled before turning and walking back to the cockpit, her lightsaber dangling from the belt loop of her pants.

 

“Thanks.” She called, and Rey raised a hand in recognition but didn’t stop or turn. Feeling slightly confused about the response, she grabbed the clothes and made her way to the refresher.

 

Stepping inside the tiny room she saw a small sink and toilet pushed against one wall, and a shower against the other wall.

 

Without giving it a thought she rushed into the shower and turned the water on. She yelped at the initial cold blast, but it slowly started to warm after a moment. She didn’t mind the cold anyway, it was clean. She hadn’t washed herself in fully clean water in years, the process she’d used for purifying the water on Dagobah had been so complicated that she only used it for drinking water.

 

Remembering the clothes still on her body, she pulled them off and threw them around the browning curtain, not caring much about where they went. 

 

There was a small amount of soap available in the shower, and she used most of it on her hair, using the bubbles streaming down from her head to wash her body as well. Once the water began to go cold again, she shut the shower off.

 

There were only two towels in the small room, feeling bad she picked the smaller one, hoping it was not the one Rey used frequently.

 

After drying her body and hair as much as she could, she picked up the clothes that Rey had given her. The tunic fit her body fine, the pants were a little big but that was to be expected since Rey had more than a few inches on her in height.

 

The grey vest was probably the nicest article of clothing she had ever worn in her life. She rubbed the soft fabric against her face, enjoying the comfort of it. Slipping the vest on over her tunic, she looked at her reflection in the mirror.

 

The girl looking back at her was much older then she remembered. She began working on getting the tangles out of her hair, she didn’t want her hair hanging down on her shoulders anymore.

 

It took a while, but once she was done, she ripped some small strips of fabric off of her old clothes and went to work braiding her hair back like she used to keep it when she was younger. 

When she was finished she looked at herself in the mirror again. Her breath stopped for a moment and her eyes burned until a couple tears slid out. Rubbing her eyes, exasperated, she told herself to pull it together.

 

She looked in the mirror again and saw the girl she once thought was gone forever, and then exited the refresher to look for Rey.

 

She found her where she expected, in the cockpit, watching space bend around them in hyperspeed. Not wanting to disrupt her outright, she sat on one of the two seats behind the piloting chairs. After a moment of sitting silently Rey realized she was there and jumped slightly.

 

“I didn’t notice you come in.” Rey said, she sounded puzzled. She knew why, but didn’t really feel like explaining at that point.

 

“Where are we going?” She asked, looking past Rey into the darkness of space and trying to calm her stomach and thoughts.

 

“A planet called Hoth, there was an old Resistance base there that the Rebellion rebuilt recently,” Rey told her, “It’s quite cold there, I don’t have enough warm clothes for the both of us, but you can borrow some when we arrive.”

 

She nodded, she knew of Hoth, “Is Luke Skywalker going to be there?” She asked quietly.

 

“It’s possible, but he took his ship and went out on a mission of his own. One he decided not to share with me.” Rey said angrily.

 

With any luck, he would be gone for a very long time, long enough for her to come up with what she wanted to say to him after all these years.

 

“We’re here.” Rey told her as ship lurched forward as it left hyperspeed. With the snow covered planet looming closer, she could almost sense the next question before Rey asked it.

 

“You never told me your name.” It was more of a question than a statement, and she sighed before answering.

 

“Mara. My name’s Mara.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some exposition for you.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

Rey was surprised at how normal the girl looked now that she wasn’t covered in layers of dirt and matted hair. Mara, she’d called herself. Before she had time to wonder why she couldn’t feel Mara’s presence even when she was so close, she felt something collide with the Falcon, which gave a corresponding shutter.

 

“Damn.” Rey muttered as she reached as far as she could to the right to activate the shields around the ship.

 

“We’re under attack, it might be a good idea to put on a safety belt.” Rey told Mara, who said nothing in response but clicked the safety belt around her body instantly.

 

Strange girl, Rey thought before turning her attention to the situation at hand. 

 

Scanning the horizon, Rey noticed that there were only a few First Order ships in the area, all TIE fighters. They must have just found out the Resistance was here, they hadn’t even sent a Star Destroyer yet. 

 

Careening the Falcon sharply to the left, Rey avoided an upcoming blast. There was no way for her to fire back while trying to pilot the ship around the TIE fighters.

 

“Mara, come help me with this!” Rey said on a whim. The girl stumbled forward without saying anything and solemnly turned to Rey for instructions.

 

“Grab those triggers there, you aim by pushing them forward with your hands and fire by pressing the buttons on top,” Rey explained quickly, “Wait for my mark.”

 

Mara froze at the ready as Rey brought the ship around in a tight maneuver that put them right in the path of an upcoming TIE fighter, “Now!” Rey shouted.

 

Mara aimed and, with a great amount of accuracy, hit the TIE fighter and sent it spiraling towards the surface of the planet. 

 

“Whoa, that was really well done.” Rey said, Mara seemed to be as shocked as she was. A moment after that Rey saw the X-Wings rising to meet the last of the TIE fighters.

 

“I’m going to take us in.” Rey told Mara, who stood up quickly and promptly vomited on the floor behind them. Rey didn’t want to sound as disgusted as she felt, “Erm, are you alright?” She questioned.

 

“Sorry, give me a moment.” Mara said as she exited the cockpit. Confused, Rey wondered where Mara’s confidence on Dagobah had gone. 

 

The base was mostly hidden, but Rey had the coordinates and was able to locate the ship hanger as quickly as she possibly could. Following the beams of light directing her, Rey brought the Falcon into the hanger and set it down to rest. Its engines began hissing and whining immediately. Rey knew she’d have to do some maintenance work on the ship before they took off again.

 

Mara was sitting in the same spot she’d found her earlier, she looked utterly terrified now.

 

Rey asked again, “Are you alright Mara?”

 

“Yes. It’s just, I’ve been on my own for so long…” Mara trailed off. Rey could understand her apprehension, the circumstances under which she’d left Jakku made it hard for her to feel anything over her adrenaline, but looking back on it Rey realized she would have been terrified herself. 

 

With the issue of the vomit on the floor in the cockpit, Rey decided her first priority needed to be finding some kind of cleaning crew or at least some cleaning materials on the base. Opening the door to the ship, she exited into the hanger and saw that Finn was waiting for her.

 

Breaking into a smile, Rey hurried forward into his waiting arms and squeezed him as tight as she could. 

 

“I didn’t realize you were back already!” She said into his ear.

 

“Well you know, once they’ve figured out where we are I always come back. Besides, I missed you.” He responded, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek before letting her go.

 

“Find anything interesting?” He asked, glancing behind her at the Falcon.

 

“You’d think it’d be easier to find a specific book hidden in an entire galaxy. So no, but I did find someone interesting.” She responded lightly.

 

Finn raised his eyebrows, “Someone?”

 

Mara hadn’t left the ship yet, so in response Rey took Finn’s hand and led him onto the Falcon. She wondered what he would think, surely it was a good idea to bring this girl here, she had nowhere else to go.

 

Onboard the Falcon Mara was still frozen in place, she looked up though when she saw Finn. Mara glanced between him and Rey, not saying anything.

 

“Oh, hello.” Finn said, looking at Mara and then back at Rey. He clearly wanted to say more, but the expression on Mara’s face plainly told him not to. 

 

“This is Mara, and she needed a lift, so I helped her out.” Was the only explanation Rey gave.

 

“And gave her your clothes.” Finn blurted out. Rey wanted to hit him, but she was at least going to show some restraint.

 

“Is Luke here?” Rey chose to respond with. At the mention of Luke’s name, Rey could almost feel Mara tense up behind her. What struck Rey as odd wasn’t Mara’s reaction, but the fact that she could only almost feel her reaction. Rey was not a fully trained Jedi, not by a long shot, but what she was exceptionally good at was sensing the emotions and presence of others. That particular skill took almost no effort on her part. But for the life of her, Rey could not get a handle on Mara.

 

Finn brought Rey out of her thoughts by saying, “No, he hasn’t come back once since we left. Maybe he’s having better luck then you are.”

 

“Yeah, maybe…come on Mara the ship needs to be cleaned.” Rey said, still lost in thought. She led both Finn and Mara out into the hanger. Mara kept walking while Rey stopped, grabbing the sleeve of Finn’s jacket, “What is it?” He asked.

 

“I have to tell you something that Mara told me, but not here, not in front of everyone.” Rey said hurriedly.

 

“Alright, let’s go.” With that, Finn took Rey’s hand and together they followed Mara into the main building.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting a bit more interesting now, I hope!


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5  
Mara was laying on the floor in the small room they’d given her. There was a bed in the corner, but Mara had been sleeping on the ground for so long that she found sleeping on the bed basically impossible. The noises were difficult to get used to as well, Mara had been living in almost total silence for the majority of her life and the Resistance base was filled with new sounds. 

Mara could only assume the noises around her were louder than usual with the decision to stay on the base or evacuate up in the air. From what she could understand, the First Order knew that the Resistance was on Hoth but they were not sure of their exact location. Mara thought the decision to stay was safest, at least until they could decide on a new planet to relocate the base.

Rolling over onto her stomach, Mara’s face was squished against the cold stone floor. At least on Dagobah it was warm, and the ground wasn’t so hard to sleep on. 

Deciding to forgo sleep, Mara sat up and looked around the room. Beside the bed, there was a small dresser with a mirror hung above it. Moving over to the mirror, Mara removed it from the wall and held it in front of her face. It had been hung too high for her to see anything other than the top of her head.

Mara studied her face, tracing the features she could remember and the lines that definitely had not been present when she was a child. She didn’t want to admit that she wasn’t sure how old she was, but she knew it wasn’t old enough to see small worry lines beginning to appear.

Setting down the mirror on the dresser, Mara slipped on the boots and heavy jacket that had been given to her a couple hours earlier. She was still wearing the clothes and vest Rey had given her as well.

Pausing at the doorway, Mara remembered that while Luke wasn’t on the base, Leia was sure to be around somewhere. She took a moment to think, contemplating going back inside and trying to sleep on the bed. But there was a chance Leia wouldn’t recognize her, she probably thought she was dead anyway.

Mara’s curiosity got the better of her, and she walked out of her room and into the still busy hallway. She left the door cracked, the only possession she had left Dagobah with was safely tucked into the pocket of her new jacket.

There were quite a few people running down the hallway in flight suits, and many more people wearing the grey mechanic suit. No one payed Mara any attention as she quietly and slowly made her way down the hallway and into the large hanger.

The size of the flight hanger made Mara pause in shock and awe, she had seen it once on her way in but she still couldn’t quite wrap her mind around how large the space was. Most of the ships were X-wings, their nervous pilots waiting anxiously around as they made minor repairs to their ships and waited for orders. 

Mara easily spotted the Falcon amongst the sea of fighting ships. The door to the ship was down, and Mara could see Finn leaning against it talking to a girl she hadn’t seen before. She didn’t really want to talk to them, but Mara really did not want to run into Leia. Sighing, she made her way towards the Falcon and it’s two occupants.

Finn smiled at her as she approached, “Hi Mara. Couldn’t sleep?” He asked. Mara shook her head no and tried to smile.

“This is Rose.” Finn gestured at the girl sitting next to him and she smiled. She had a warm smile, and Mara decided she liked her immediately. 

“Were you looking for Rey?” Finn asked her.

“Oh, no I just was looking around.” Mara said quickly, although she had hoped she’d run into Rey somewhere.

“She’s in there,” Finn gestured behind him into the Falcon, “Sleeps like a rock though.” Rose giggled at these words, as if there were some private joke that Mara didn’t know.

“You really freaked her out you know, with all that talk about her family. Were you telling the truth about that?” Finn’s eyes narrowed at her and Mara was taken aback.

“Of course I was, or am. I didn’t realize she didn’t know.” Mara didn’t want to sound like she was on the offensive, but she couldn’t help but come off that way.

Before the awkward subject matter could continue any farther, Rose interjected with, “You look familiar Mara.”

“No I don’t.” Mara responded, too quickly, she realized as Finn and Rose began to look at her more closely.

“Yeah, you do. I’ll tell you who it is once I figure it out.” Rose concluded as she leaned back and stretched for a moment before standing up. 

“Rion asked me to help him work out a malfunction on the door to the general’s office. I’ll see you later Finn. Nice meeting you Mara.” With that, Rose strode away towards the back of the hanger.

“I always count back from fifty. I’m usually asleep on the third try.” Finn grinned at her, Mara smiled back and waved a goodbye.

Once she was turned away from him though her smile dropped. She was going to have to reveal herself before someone figured it out and spread rumors before she had a chance to say a word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long pause, school can be rough.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6  
Rey woke up hours before the rest of the base, but she didn’t move a muscle, just breathed silently as her mind ran around in circles trying to comprehend what Mara had told her the day before.

Her only comfort came from Finn’s presence, sleeping next to her soundly. Rey tried to match his breathing to calm herself, but it was no use. 

Thinking back to the stories she’d heard about the Kanobi’s, Rey tried to come up with a single memory that would make what Mara said seem real. She came up with nothing. The thought scared her more than anything she had faced since leaving Jakku. Even the fight she’d lost against that horrible man Ben Solo. He still called himself Kylo Ren, but Rey knew the name Ben irked him more than anything so she tried to call him that as much as possible.

Rey thought back to that fight, and her already racing heart picked up speed. 

She had been alone, her and a few others were scouting a planet, looking for a new spot for a Resistance base. The planet looked like paradise, at least from where Rey was scouting. It was tropical, with tall palm trees in every direction and sandy beaches covering the entirety of the space that was not ocean. 

Rey had looked apprehensively at the massive body of water and remembered the time she had almost drowned at Ach-to. Shuddering, she had turned away from the ocean and towards the line of palm trees.

That was when she saw him.

His dark silhouette was familiar to her, though he wasn’t wearing the dark cape he usually had on. Rey remembered thinking that perhaps it was too warm to wear the cape here when she saw his lightsaber ignite. The dark red saber shivered with energy, and he began striding toward her. 

Rey ignited her own saber and without stopping to think, she charged at him. She could feel him trying to push her back with the force, but she ignored it and tried to get a handle on what he was feeling.

Anger, as usual, was there. But there was something different this time as well. Shock maybe? Before Rey had time to contemplate it, their lightsabers met with the familiar zing of sound and energy. 

She fought him for a long time, longer than she ever had before most likely. Rey could feel the sweat running down her face as the hot sun beat down on her, but she was used to fighting in a hot and sandy atmosphere. 

For a split second, Rey had a thought that wasn’t about the fight at hand. He wasn’t wearing the helmet he loved so much. 

In the same second, she felt the force pull her forward slightly and before she had time to react she felt the burn of a lightsaber going through her.

Gasping, Rey looked down at her stomach and saw the saber impaling her side before it was yanked out again. She looked up at Ben and their eyes met for a moment before she collapsed into the sand.

Looking up, Rey expected him to finish the job. But instead he had turned around and was striding back to the tree line. Not five minutes later, Rey saw his ship rising up into the sky and into the atmosphere.

Rey couldn’t process his reaction as she was too preoccupied with herself. There was no blood of course, but she could feel her insides burning. The pain was worse than anything she could have imagined.

There was not going to be a meet-up on this planet of the people who had been sent to scout, they were going to return to the current base. Rey began to panic.

Doing her best to calm her mind, she tried to call out to the force. Rey didn’t have anyone in particular in mind, she was sending out a distress call to anyone who would listen.

She couldn’t remember how long she waited, but she remembered opening her eyes when she heard her name being called.

Rey tried to call back, but couldn’t muster the energy to do so. Looking around, she spotted her saber lying near her hand. Grasping it weakly, Rey lit the saber and held it aloft in the hopes that someone would see it.

“Rey!” She heard her name again, this time she recognized the voice. It was Finn, and he was running in her direction. Grateful, Rey let the saber drop to the ground.

Rey must have fallen back asleep as she recalled the memory, because just as Finn was lifting her off the sand on the beach she felt her stomach drop to the floor and she sat bolt upright in bed.

Looking around the room and seeing nothing but the dark and familiar interior of the Falcon, Rey relaxed slightly. But the movement had woken up Finn.

“Are you alright?” He asked, rolling over to face her.

“Yeah,” Rey tried to sound calm as she answered, “Just a bad dream.”

Sitting up, Finn pulled Rey into a hug.

“Knowing the name of a family you were with for a few years doesn’t change who you are now.” Finn told her. Rey tried to believe him as the held each other, silently mourning their shared loss of their families at a young age.

At the sound of footsteps running up the ramp into the Falcon, they broke apart and Rey strode out to meet whoever it was.

Rey found Rose in the center of the ship, “They found our new base location,” Rose told her breathlessly. Rey wondered if she had ran all the way to the Falcon from her room.

“Where are we headed this time?” Rey asked as she moved toward the cockpit to prepare the Falcon for flight. Rose stopped her by putting a hand on her shoulder.

“We’re going to Jakku.” Rose said sympathetically. Rey only froze for a moment before turning around and fully facing Rose.

“Why?”

“The First Order hasn’t been near it in years. But intelligence tells us they won’t expect us there because of their previous occupation of the planet.” Rose tried to sound nonchalant.

“And?” Rey inquired further.

Sighing, Rose said, “And they know how well you know the planet. They think it will be helpful.”

She knew it. Angrily, Rey stomped off to the cockpit of the Falcon as Finn appeared and Rose filled him in on their destination.

Rey really didn’t want to talk to either of them, so when Finn appeared in the doorway she said, “I’m going to get Mara.” And quickly left the ship before Finn could say a word.

What possible reason could they have for picking Jakku! Besides what Rose had told her, Leia should know she would never want to go back there. Rey scoffed at herself for all those times she had tried to return to Jakku when she left the planet with Finn.

Mara’s door was open and Rey entered without knocking. Mara was curled up in a ball at the top of the bed, still wearing her jacket and boots.

“Mara?” Rey said, and she woke up with a start, her hand jumping to the pocket of her jacket. Remembering where she was, Mara jumped out of bed.

“We’re leaving, let’s go.” Was all Rey told her, and she turned back out of the room with Mara following her a few steps behind.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7  
Rey seemed angry. Mara was sure it was something to do with her until she saw the rest of the base hurrying towards their ships as well. They must be evacuating.

Rey broke into a run when they entered the hanger, and Mara hurried to keep pace with her. 

“We won’t know what we’re facing until we get into the air,” Rey called behind her back in Mara’s direction, “Finn will take gunner position, can you help me pilot?”

Mara wanted to say no, but heard herself call back, “Yes!” In a squeaking voice.

Upon entering the ship Mara removed her large jacket, she didn’t want to be restricted in any way. She quickly removed her weapon from the pocket and stuck it in her belt. Mara found herself sad at having to remove the comforting jacket, but shook it off the best she could and followed Rey into the cockpit.

Rey was busy with flight preparations, so Mara eased herself into the co-pilot chair. Looking down at the buttons and switches in front of her, Mara had a sudden memory.

She was sitting in this seat, but she was much smaller and the chair seemed much bigger. She went to touch one of the exciting looking buttons but a large hand grabbed her smaller one, gently but firmly. She heard a bellowing laugh, “Not that one!” A familiar voice exclaimed.

That was it. Mara gulped back her shock at having such a vivid remembrance. When had that happened? Had it happened at all, or had it been some kind of false recollection?

“Ready?” She heard Rey ask. Mara nodded, trying not to remember the voice in her memory.

“Ready, Finn?” Rey called toward a speaker system that must have been connected to the gunner position.

“Ready!” Mara heard Finn’s voice half through the crackling speaker, half from the lower level of the Falcon.

“Put the shields up.” Rey said, nodding towards the right of Mara, who located the correct switch as the ship began to rise and move towards the exit of the hanger.

“Are we going first?” Mara asked.

“We’re in the second wave of ships, but we are the first of them.” Rey responded. Mara thought she still sounded upset.

“Are you alright?” Mara said quietly, hoping to avoid her voice reaching the speaker.

“What?” Rey turned to look at her momentarily as she waited for the okay to take off.

“You just seem, upset or something.” Mara tried to sound nonchalant. 

Rey sighed, “I’m not a fan of where we’re heading.” At that moment she was given the signal to go, and pushing some leavers forward the exited the hanger and rose into the sky.

Mara marveled at the snow-covered planet, there were no trees to be seen and it looked entirely flat. Mara imagined a base would be very hard to spot in these conditions, unless you could see the ships coming and going every day.

As the ship climbed high and higher, the sky began to get darker as they were reaching open space.

“Doesn’t look like anyone’s here.” Rey mumbled, but just as she had finished speaking they felt an impact from the back of the ship. The force of it made the entire cockpit shudder, and Rey swung the Falcon around wildly to face whoever had hit them.

Once again there were only a few TIE fighters, but this time Mara could see something else off in the distance approaching them. It was a large Star Destroyer, and it was probably carrying an army of TIE fighters.

“You see what I’m seeing?” Mara heard Finn yell through the ship and the speaker.

“We need to get out of here.” Rey said, but she didn’t take them into hyperspace. Instead she flew the ship toward the fight that seemed to be going on between the first wave of Resistance ships and the TIEs. 

Finn seemed to anticipate her decision and began firing at the First Order ships immediately. “You can fire too, Mara.” Rey told her. Mara grasped the shooting triggers and waited for an opportune moment, watching the windows and the firing screen next to the triggers.

Aiming, Mara took down one of the opposing ships on the first shot.

“Wow!” Rey was busy piloting the ship, but Mara could tell she was impressed with her. 

The ship was being repeatedly hit from the back, and Mara felt the guns at the bottom of the ship firing back at them. Mara could only assume Finn had placed a direct hit, because there was no more movement or sounds around the Falcon at all.

“Let’s go!” Finn yelled. Mara looked over at Rey, who seemed frozen with her hands on the controls.

“There are more waves of ships coming up aren’t there?” It sounded more like a statement coming out of Mara’s mouth.

“Two more.” Rey confirmed. They sat in silence for a moment before Finn yelled again, “What are we doing?”

Breaking out of her frozen state, Rey called back, “We can’t leave the rest of the Resistance without help. It’s mostly maintenance workers and the higher ups in the last two waves.” 

“We should’ve brought Rose with us.” Finn said angrily. They waited, watching the Star Destroyer moving closer every second. They saw the third wave of ships enter and disappear again into hyperspace with no issues.

“Come on, come on.” Rey whispered, her hands nervously holding onto the controls.

They heard the unmistakable sounds of TIE fighters approaching.

“Alright, let’s do this.” Rey said. Mara responded by hitting the first ship that came within firing range.

“Have you even missed yet?” Rey muttered incredulously without taking her eyes off of the approaching ships. The sound of return fire alerted them to the approach of the fourth wave of Resistance ships. Mara and Finn fought back against the deluge of First Order ships, while Rey skillfully maneuvered around them checking every so often how many Resistance ships were still in the area.

“I think we’re ready to go, I’m taking us into hyperspace!” Rey yelled into the communication system. Just then, a resounding BOOM hit the Falcon with such a force that Mara and Rey were knocked out of their chairs.

“What was that?” Mara heard Finn yell from down the stairs, faintly because she could no longer hear him through the communication system.

“Oh no.” Rey whispered as she scrambled back up into her chair. Mara followed her and found that it was no use, all systems on the Falcon were out. They were floating backwards with no way to control the ship.

“All systems are down!” Rey ran to the door and yelled through the hallway at Finn. She began to open panels on the sides of the wall, presumably trying to fix the ship in some way. Mara watched helplessly, she had no idea what to do.

Finn appeared in the doorway, “What do you mean all systems are down?”

“I mean absolutely nothing is working, I have to try and fix it before…” But she was cut off by the abrupt change in direction the ship was taking.

“Before someone locks onto us.” Finn finished for her. The pair of them ran to the center of the ship, Mara followed still unsure of what to do.

Rey was pulling back a panel on the floor, “You can hide in there Mara, I’m sure they won’t suspect you’re here with us, unless…” Rey trailed off on that though, but continued with another, “Try to see if you can get a message to the Resistance once they’re done searching the ship.”

“No wait, why can’t you guys hide too?” Mara didn’t want to be alone again.

“They already know we’re here, we’ll be fine don’t worry.” Finn told her. 

Mara hesitated, looking between the both of them. They had been so nice without needing to be, she didn’t want to see them die. Mara moved toward Rey and gave her a quick hug, “Thank you.” Mara whispered, before climbing down into the hiding space.

They closed the panel again and Mara was shut in the semi darkness as she heard a lightsaber ignite above her head. Mara had an awful feeling of déjà vu, remembering the horrors of the last time she had hidden in the dark all those years ago as she listened to her friends lose their lives.

Mara shuddered and crouched down, holding her head in her hands. This was not the same she told herself, without daring to believe it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A note about me, I'm a graduate student at the moment so I have a pretty heavy workload most of the time. I will try to update as much as possible!


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Rey exhaled sharply, trying to avoid sounding shaky, and grabbed Finn’s hand to pull him to face her. She looked into his eyes for a moment before kissing him deeply on the lips and pretending that the world wasn’t crazy and messed up. Rey tried to imagine what life would be like if it was just her and Finn, living boring lives together in one spot. Going to work in the mornings and returning home to each other in the evenings. Maybe they would have begun to start thinking about a family.

 

But now wasn’t the time for wishing.

 

Rey pulled away and ignited her lightsaber in anticipation of what was about to happen. Finn seemed to have been overcome by emotion for a moment, but regained his composure quickly. Perhaps he was sharing the same daydream as Rey.

 

“Are you ready?” Finn asked her.

 

“No. Are you?” Rey replied. The ship lightened slightly as the Falcon drifted into a hanger bay. Rey closed her eyes and tried to imagine the force, she searched for Luke and hoped he would feel her call for help. 

 

The door to the Falcon opened and a sea of Stormtroopers rushed onto the ship and began to fire. Finn went for cover and began firing back while Rey stayed out in the open and deflected the shots with her saber while using the force to throw the troopers against the walls and each other. They went on like this for what felt like a long time, but could only have been minutes before Finn was hit in the shoulder by a well-placed shot from the enemy. 

 

“Finn!” Rey was distracted for a split-second and unknowingly allowed a trooper to get close enough to her that she had to use her saber to defend herself against him, leaving herself open to being kicked in the back by an unseen trooper. The kick sent a jolt through her spine and her knees hit the floor of the ship, but she maintained control over her saber, arching it behind her body and taking out the trooper who’d gotten a kick in. She threw the next trooper who came near her out of the way with the force, but when she’d scrambled to her feet a new wave of troopers entered the Falcon.

 

Rey began to fight them again on her own, but this time she heard a voice yell, “Freeze!” From the side of the room where Finn had been. She turned to look and saw a trooper pointing his blaster at Finn who was grimacing and holding his shoulder. Rey knew she had no choice other than to surrender, and bitterly lowered her saber. 

 

Rey didn’t resist when her saber was taken away as she and Finn were being led out of the ship, blasters aimed at both of them know. Rey focused her thoughts on Finn’s shoulder, trying to remember everything Luke had taught her about healing through the force. It was hard in this moment, not exactly the most relaxing setting. But Rey could tell something was happening when she heard Finn gasp, she wanted to look over at him but needed to maintain her already limited focus on healing. 

 

The troopers were leading them to the holding cells. Throwing Finn into one of them, the troopers turned to Rey, who expected to be pushed into one as well but instead was told to turn around and start going in the opposite direction.

 

“Stop! Rey, Rey!” Finn was yelling from inside the cell, but there was nothing Rey could do to reassure him she would be alright. She wasn’t sure she would be alright.

 

They walked down endless hallways, Rey began to memorize every twist and turn they took so that she could find her way back to Finn if she managed to escape from wherever she was headed. Rey was sure she had been on this ship once before, and if she was right she knew exactly what was coming.

 

Sure enough, the troopers led Rey to a massive room with red walls, lined with armed guards. Two figures stood at the end of the room, Rey recognized them instantly as Ben Solo and Snoke. Her heart hammering, Rey tried to block out the painful memories of the last time she had been in this room. She tried to hold on to the fact that she had escaped once before, meaning she had a good chance that she could escape again if she played her cards right. Rey was smarter this time, more prepared. And ready to fight.

 

The troopers stopped walking but Rey kept going, all the way to the end of the room holding her head high. She would feel more confident with her saber at her side, but she had a semi-good plan in mind for getting it back.

 

“We meet again.” Snoke hissed. Ben said nothing.

 

“What do you want this time?” Rey spat back at him, hoping to sound confident. Snoke grimaced in what could have been a smile, but his face was so twisted and awful that it looked unnatural.

 

“You are strong with the force, girl. You know this. I’ve never felt such power.” Snoke responded.

 

Rey glanced at Ben to see if this would get a reaction from him, but he looked as composed as ever. As composed as one could look with a mask covering the entirety of your head, he’d gotten a new one in the time since Rey had last seen him.

 

“I will not turn to the dark side.” Rey called out forcefully.

 

“I understand there is someone on this ship for whom you have compassion for.” Snoke said calmly.

 

Rey’s response caught in her throat. He was right. She had not factored Finn into her escape plan, other than breaking him out of his cell. Sensing her hesitation, Snoke gestured with his hand and Rey felt a pull around her middle as she was sent flying forward closer to Snoke and Ben. She landed on her stomach, face banging into the floor and feet flying up in the air behind her. Rey felt a bit of blood beginning to flow out of her nose and she quickly stood up.

 

“You are going to help us crush the resistance, and after that we will regain control of the galaxy.” Snoke told her happily.

 

Rey said nothing. She felt helpless as she thought of Finn waiting to be tortured or worse at any sense of rebellion on her part. Rey could taste the blood running out of her nose, but made no move to wipe it away as she hung her head in shame of being defeated so easily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank goodness for breaks from school combined with excitement of the new movie being released in less than a month! Enjoy the chapter.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

 

Mara tried to calm herself down, but was having a really rough go at it. She’d been crying since Rey and Finn had been taken off of the ship, silently though since she feared that more troopers would return to the ship at some point.

 

Just yesterday she’d been on Dagobah, not even wishing to be found anymore for fear of living the rest of her life in the agony of waiting. Somehow since then she’d found two people whom she cared about deeply, and now they were gone again.

 

Gripping the collar of her vest in one hand and her saber in the other, Mara began to muster the courage to leave her hiding space. She was almost too short to reach the ceiling, Mara had to climb up onto the side of the wall in order to push the panel above her head out of the way so that she could shimmy out into the main compartment of the Falcon. 

 

With the cold air hitting her face, Mara could think a bit more clearly. She walked into the cockpit, looking for any sort of communication device. The ship seemed to have regained power again after being hit in the battle out in space. The lights in the room were blinking, almost willing her to prepare the ship for takeoff. 

 

“We have to find Rey and Finn.” Mara murmured quietly, she almost felt silly for talking to a ship but found talking to be helpful in this particular situation. Mara couldn’t find anything that looked like it could send a communication signal for help. 

 

Walking dejectedly back into the center of the ship, Mara noticed the Stormtroopers that Rey had taken out earlier. She had a morbid idea, but couldn’t think of a better one.

 

Mara began pulling the pieces armor off of one of the troopers and put them on over her clothes. The armor was big on her, and Mara had no problem slipping her saber into the arm of her disguise. She slowly placed the helmet over her head and tried not to hyperventilate. It was harder to see in the helmet, but Mara assumed it was better than wandering the ship with no disguise, just waiting to be caught. At the last moment, Mara grabbed a blaster off of the ground before exciting the ship.

 

There were troopers all over the hanger where the Falcon had been left, and Mara easily evaded suspicion as she quickly left the hanger and moved deeper into the ship. Mara had never seen the inside of a Star Destroyer before and couldn’t help but be in awe at the sheer size of it.

 

Getting lucky, Mara noticed a glowing layout of the ship hovering in the corner of a wall. Maybe Stormtroopers got lost sometimes too. Mara spotted an area titled, “Holding Cells” and decided to try her luck there. For all she knew, Rey and Finn were both dead. But Mara had a feeling that this was not the case as she quickly made her way to the cells, trying to avoid looking suspicious.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Long wait time! More to come...


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

 

“Do we have a lead on where the Resistance is heading?” Snoke wheezed at Kylo, who responded with a curt shake of his head.

 

“No, Leader Snoke. Our ships were distracted by the Falcon.” Kylo gave Rey a quick glance at those words, and to her surprise they were not immediately filled with hatred.

 

Rey would have responded with curiosity, but she was a bit preoccupied with herself at that moment. She was frozen in place, something she had a particularly difficult time with since it seemed to happen to her so often. No matter how hard she tried, she was unable to free herself from Snoke’s force. The blade from the armed guard that was being held next to her face wasn’t helping either. 

 

Rey tried to call out, but all she managed was the small clicking noise of her tongue hitting the back of her throat. Still, the noise caught the attention of Snoke.

 

“Young Rey, you can begin in your assistance to us by telling us the location of the Resistance.”

 

At his words, Rey told her mind to go blank. She would not fall into this trap again. She would refuse to give up the location.

 

Snoke closed his eyes and stood up. He slowly began walking towards Rey, who refused to let herself appear frightened by this.

 

“Your years of training have made you more powerful, young Rey. I can, of course, easily find the location in your mind. But, I believe in giving my students opportunities to hone their skills. Kylo, find the location.” Snoke said.

 

Kylo turned his eyes on Rey, who saw a flicker of apprehension. What was wrong with him?

 

The flicker was gone before Rey could contemplate any further, and he approached her menacingly.

 

Forgoing any sense of tact, he placed his hand directly on Rey’s face and she could feel the moment of a switch between the control from Snoke to Kylo. Rather than the chilling stillness of Snoke, Rey began to feel sparks of pain as she was held in the same location, her body now twitching oddly as though she was being electrocuted repeatedly.

 

Hatred filled Rey to the core, she hated this. The feeling of being controlled by another person, the carelessness of being handed from one person to another. 

 

Kylo must have sensed this shift in her because he jolted his hand away from her and looked at Rey incredulously.

 

“Get away from me.” Rey managed to get out. 

 

Instead of a response from Kylo, Rey felt the shift in power again as she was thrown across the room. The hold on her momentarily gone, Rey rolled over and groaned. 

 

Snoke was distracted by Kylo.

 

“You disappoint me.” Snoke growled, Kylo looked away and gave no response. A zap of lighting flew out from Snoke’s fingertips and brought Kylo to his knees. Turning away from Kylo, Snoke brought his attention back to Rey, who was slowly attempting to stand up.

 

Again, Rey felt a hold on herself through the force as she was slammed into a wall. She felt a tightness around her throat as she was slowly lifted up into the air. Grasping at her neck and finding no relief, Rey began to panic.

 

“You will give me the location of—“ But Snoke was cut off by a monumental explosion from the entrance to the room. 

 

Rey dropped to the floor and looked around in disbelief as she saw the Falcon crash into the throne room. Blasts from the front of the ship took out the guards almost instantly.

 

The door dropped down from the bottom of the ship and for a moment nobody appeared. Perhaps out of shock, neither Snoke nor Kylo did anything but wait.

 

A second later, Mara appeared. She walked slowly but deliberately. Rey wanted to shout at her to get out of the way, but her throat hurt too much to speak.

 

Snoke’s face morphed from confusion, to smirking, and finally angry confusion. He raised his hand, Rey assumed to harness the force in a way much stronger than she had ever seen and she turned to look at Mara fearfully.

 

But nothing happened.

 

Mara continued to walk towards Snoke, a look of intense anger on her face.

 

“What is this?” Snoke yelled.

 

Rey could not believe her eyes as she watched Mara begin to run. 

 

Mara ignited her lightsaber, it was a vivid purple. Half a second later another beam shot out from the bottom half of the saber hilt.

 

Utterly confused and angered, Snoke took a step back as Mara advanced on him. He turned to reach out for the lightsaber held by Kylo Ren, but found that he was nowhere to be seen. By the time he turned back around it was too late.

 

Taking a running jump, Mara brought the saber above her head, spun it once and brought it straight across Snoke’s shoulders. 

 

It was over. Snoke was dead.

 

Rey couldn’t believe her eyes as Mara switched directions and came running towards her.

 

“Are you okay?” Mara asked, pulling Rey to her feet.

 

“Yeah, I’m… What- what are you?”

 

Mara’s face dropped as she took Rey’s hand and said, “We have to go crash our way out of here first. Then we can talk.”

 

Together Mara and Rey ran back to the Falcon, where Finn was waiting in the cockpit.

 

“Rey!” He called as soon as she appeared, as he threw his arms around her.

 

Already in the co-pilot’s chair, Mara called back to them, “Escape first, yeah?”

 

Finn and Rey reluctantly let go of each other as Rey sat down quickly in the pilot’s seat.

 

The pathway out was easy to find, it was a relatively clear path after the damage brought on by the Falcon’s trip to the throne room. 

 

As soon as they could see the darkness of space, Rey took the ship into hyperspace.

 

Rey turned behind her to look at Finn, and together they turned their eyes to Mara, who was either studying the streaks of hyperspace closely or pointedly ignoring the two of them.

 

“Mara?” Finn said.

 

“Who are you?” Rey finished for him.

 

Sighing, Mara resignedly spoke without looking at them, “The force hates me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to read!


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

 

“My father could tell as soon as I was born something was wrong with me.” Mara hated saying the words out loud, even though they played in her head constantly.

 

“My dad was…” Mara hesitated, still unwilling to go further into her family history, “Particularly force sensitive, but he couldn’t save my mom. She died as I was born, along with my twin brother.” Tears filled Mara’s eyes at these words as she looked down at her hands resting in her lap.

 

Rey exchanged a look with Finn before gently laying a hand on top of Mara’s clasped ones and gave them a squeeze.

 

“I’m so sorry, Mara” Rey said in almost a whisper.

 

Mara inhaled loudly and quickly wiped a tear from her eye before it could fall.

 

“It was a long time ago. And it was of course harder on my dad, he lost a wife and son in one instant and was left with me.” Mara’s voice took a steely tone, “He blamed their deaths on me. Thought that it was something about my strange lack of connection to the force, that I drained the force from them. Or something like that.”

 

“That…that can’t be true. Can it?” Finn wondered aloud. 

 

“I’ll never know I suppose. Can’t exactly ask the force can we?” Mara replied.

 

“But you know me from before.” Rey said, clearly wanting to continue the story without pushing too hard.

 

“Yes, I studied at the first Jedi training academy that had been opened in decades. Along with you. My family had some pull there, and my dad really couldn’t stand the thought of raising me on his own…” Mara said bitterly, trailing off in thought at the end. 

 

“But?” Rey said.

 

“But you know the story. Your parents moved you before Ben Solo started attacking everyone. I can hide, because the force won’t come near me. No force signature to find. After the attack, I was dropped off on Dagobah, and I was alone until you came along.” Mara nodded towards Rey.

 

Rey leaned back in her chair, “No connection to the force…I’ve seen people shut themselves off from the force. But I had no idea that the force could avoid someone like that. Can avoid someone. No wonder you sneak up on me so often.”

 

“I don’t do it on purpose,” Mara muttered as the lights on the control panel started blinking.

 

Rey swiveled to face the controls, “We’re making our approach. Sit down Finn.”

 

A second later they dropped out of lightspeed with a boom and a jolt, and Mara saw Jakku for the first time.

 

“It’s very…brown?” She said, as the falcon zoomed closer to the planet’s atmosphere. 

 

“Do you have the coordinates, Finn?” Rey asked gently. Finn reached around Rey’s chair and input the coordinates for the resistance base as Rey stared blankly at Jakku’s surface as they got closer and closer.

 

Finn kissed Rey's cheek as he sat back down in his chair. 

 

A few minutes later a crackled voice came over the communications system.

 

“Finn, Rey? Are you guys ok?” Said the voice of a concerned-sounding man.

 

“You could have died! I am going to throttle you two when you get down here!” Shrieked the voice of someone who Mara recognized.

 

“Poe, Rose, we’re fine. We’re making our approach now.” Rey said calmly into the speaker, “Can you let Leia, and Luke if he’s there, that I need to speak with them?” 

 

Mara’s heart stopped for the brief moment it took Poe to answer.

 

“I’ll let Leia know, Skywalker’s not here yet. On his way though, he was pretty far out into nowhere by the time our transmission got to him about the move. He’s intrigued about us being here though, I’m sure he’ll want to take you to have a look around, Rey.”

 

What had looked like a simple rock formation in the middle of the desert began to split in two, or rather, a large door built into the rock was opening. Rey navigated the Falcon inside and gently brought the ship to a halt. Sighing, Rey stood up. Finn took her hand and they exited the cockpit without looking back at Mara.

 

Mara hear the door to the falcon being lowered, and then Rose’s yell as she greeted Rey and Finn. Mara suddenly felt like an intruder. Instead of making her way out of the falcon, Mara slowly began to walk around its interior. She came to a halt in front of a door she hadn’t seen in years.

 

Mara hesitated before placing her hand gently on the wall next to the door to open it.

 

Han Solo clearly hadn’t been using this room for some time. Mara could only imagine that he was dead or near to, since she hadn’t heard his name mentioned once. 

 

The bed was made, clumsily though. The edges of the blankets were tucked, but not very neatly. And the pillows were thrown rather haphazardly onto the head of the bed. The closet was empty, but Mara could see a few of Rey’s clothes hanging out of the side of a set of drawers that had been built into the wall. 

 

There was a holo sitting on the platform next to the bed, and Mara silently crossed the small room and placed her hand on the holo to activate it without much thought.

 

An image of Rey and Finn appeared, glowing blue and hovering below Mara’s eye level. She bent down to look at it more closely. Finn had his arm casually thrown over Rey’s shoulder, and he was smiling down at her instead of looking out. Rey was holding onto the hand that Finn had around her shoulder and was laughing at him or something that was happening just outside of the frame.

 

Mara stared at the image for a long time before the thought that she was going through Rey’s things without asking had crossed her mind. Placing her hand on the holo again, the image disappeared and Mara walked out of the room and straight into Leia Organa.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

 

“This can’t be real,” Leia breathed, staring wide-eyed at Mara.

 

Mara herself was frozen to the spot, her hands began to shake and she felt tears rising up behind her eyes.

 

“It is,” Mara’s voice was shaking, “Real I mean.”

 

“Mara” Leia said, her voice shaking just as much as Mara’s.

 

Mara was too overcome to respond verbally, and with a gasp she nodded quickly and let the tears begin to fall. She rushed into Leia’s arms and they held each other without saying anything, although Mara was openly sobbing and could feel Leia’s tears on her cheek.

 

“Where have you been? Your father’s not said one word about you. Not even when I asked him openly. I thought you’d died in the…the attack. All those years ago.” Leia questioned lightly.

 

Mara tried to control her emotions, hiccupping as she forced her tears to stop flowing for a moment. She heard the hesitation in Leia’s voice and thought about the instigator of the attack she was referencing.

 

“I’ve been on a planet, Dagobah, for years. I don’t even know how long.”

 

“Without your father? He left you alone?” Mara heard the anger rising in Leia’s voice.

 

“I had everything I needed to survive.” Mara grumbled, without bothering to keep the bitterness out of her voice. 

 

“He better have the best reason in the universe for leaving his child on her own for more than half her lifetime. Look at you,” Leia paused and framed Mara’s face gently with her hands, “You’re all grown up. A woman.” There was some sadness in her voice again.

 

“I haven’t told anyone yet, who I am I mean. Not even Rey.” Mara responded, leaning into Leia’s touch.

 

“You might want to do that soon you know.” Leia said, with the smallest hint of a smile. She brought Mara’s head close to her own and kissed her on the forehead.

 

“I’ve missed you so much, Mara-bug.” Leia whispered.

 

The reminder of her childhood nickname brought up a funny feeling in the pit of Mara’s stomach, and she involuntarily took a step back from Leia.

 

“I’m sorry, this is all new for me.” Mara explained, embarrassed.

 

“Understandable.” Leia said, although she looked a little hurt.

 

“Please, let me tell them.” Mara pleaded.

 

Leia pressed her lips together and said, “You’d better do it soon.”

 

Mara had been backing up towards the doorframe, and in reaching it she nodded and left the room quickly, wiping her eyes on the hem of the vest she was wearing.

 

Mara wasn’t quite ready for the blast of heat that overtook her as she exited the Falcon. Squinting, she looked around at her surroundings.

 

They were in a hanger of some kind, although there was a large open door the size of a wall to her far left which was the source of the heat and light radiating through the room. The sun was setting, Mara realized, she had a full view of the sun through the door as it was descending on the desert outside. There were smaller doors to her back, and Mara guessed that they would lead to the rest of the structure where the resistance was hiding.

 

Almost every ship in the hanger was accompanied by a pilot and a mechanic or two, all working on repairs from the recent escape from Hoth. Mara kept an eye out for any one of the three people she would recognize, but saw no one.

 

Through the series of double doors that Mara walked through, she found herself in a large circular room filled with people looking at monitors. All of them were discussing safety measures of some kind, but Mara was too preoccupied to listen intently. The circular room was surrounded by doors as well, most of them were open with a steady flow of people going in and out.

 

Mara tentatively began looking in to each room with an open door. She found a couple mid-sized rooms filled with sleeping bunks, two large refreshers, a room where food could be prepared, and many rooms filled with more monitors and people. Mara was beginning to feel frustrated when she approached a door marked, “MEDICAL” and her heart jumped into her throat.

 

Sure enough, there were all three of them, Rey, Finn, and Rose. The bottom half of Rey’s face was bloody from her fight before Mara and Finn showed up. She was sitting on an examination table, a doctor in front of her. Rey was protesting something as Mara slowly approached them.

 

“…just looks bad. I can fix it on my own, I’m just feeling drained right now.” Rey was saying argumentatively, although not unkindly to the doctor.

 

“It’s true, she fixed my shoulder earlier.” Finn was backing Rey up.

 

“Let’s get your face cleaned up anyway. Not much I can do for a broken nose without those bacta patches. We haven’t gotten our medical supply in a long time. I do have something you can take for the pain while you wait though. Your throat must hurt too…” The doctor trailed off, taking a long, concerned look at Rey’s neck. She waved this off too.

 

“I’ll be alright soon.” It was then that she noticed Mara, and she tapped Finn on the shoulder to alert him of Mara’s presence.

 

“Mara, hi. Did you meet Leia? I saw she went onto the Falcon when we told her you were on board.” Finn said as the doctor handed Rey some kind of sterile wipe and a mirror so that she could clean her face.

 

“Yes, about that…” Mara started, but Rose, who had been silent for the duration of the time that Mara had been in the room, suddenly gasped.

 

“I figured out who you look like! It’s the eyes, and the expression on your face. You look like Luke Skywalker.” Rose exclaimed. Finn and Rey both gave her a funny look, saying nothing. Then they both turned to look at Mara. Rey cocked her head sideways like an animal.

 

“The eyes…” She started and trailed off.

 

Mara rubbed the side of her face in exasperation before finally saying, “Luke Skywalker is my father.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!


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